QO 
1872.] ae [ Wood. 
the much greater proportion of potassa in the poke-ashes, which 
exceeded by more than 20 times that of the wood-ashes; and fur- 
ther, that all the effects of ashes in promoting the growth of wheat 
are ascribable to the alkali contained in them. 
These experiments were made on too small a scale, and. with too little 
precision in quantity aud measurement, to authorize any very exact 
conclusion as to the effect of ashes upon growing wheat; but they are 
sufficient, I think, to prove that the effect is very great, and that the far- 
mer may have recourse, with great hopes of advantage, to this agent, if 
attainable at a suitable price. If the plan be generally adopted, the ashes 
would soon fail; but I have no doubt that commercial potash might be 
substituted for them, with at least equal effect; one pound of it being 
equivalent, I presume, to about a bushel of the best wood-ashes, Should 
the supply of commercial potash fail, recourse may be had to the alkali 
as now procured from mineral sources, which will probably prove inex- 
haustible. 
A few remarks on the mode of using the ashes, or their alkaline substi- 
tute, for the promotion of the wheat crop, may be acceptable to those 
who, without previous experience, may be disposed to try the measure. 
When leached ashes have been used as a dressing for wheat, for which 
experience has long showed that they are among the best fertilizers, they 
have been applied in the same manner as ordinary manure ; being first 
spread upon the surface, and then turned under by ploughing. This method 
is correct; because the very small proportion of potassa contained in 
leached ashes is in the form of the insoluble silicate, which cannot be 
dissolved or carried away by the rains, but which is probably slowly con- 
verted, as wanted, into the soluble carbonate by the influence of the root- 
lets, which then absorb it. The unleached ashes, containing the alkali in 
a soluble state, cannot be treated in the same manner ; as their alkali 
would be dissolved by the rain, and carried away, in great measure beyond 
the reach of the roots. I have, therefore, caused the ashes to be 
sprinkled or otherwise spread, as equally as possible, over the surface of 
the ploughed ground at the same time that the wheat is sowed, and the 
two then to be harrowed in together. The grain is thus brought into 
contact with the ashes, and, when the alkali is dissolved out, is ready to 
appropriate it to its own development. But as all the unappropriated 
alkali is probably dissolved out, and carried away by the winter rains, I 
direct that, in the early spring, another coating of ashes should be 
sprinkled over the young wheat, so as to yield it a supply of the alkali 
during the growing period. 
The same plan, essentially, should be followed in the use of commer- 
cial potash. Being extremely soluble, it should first be dissolved in water, 
and the solution then sprinkled over the ploughed ground at the sowing 
of the wheat, and again in the early spring upon the crop as it is begin- 
ning to grow. : 
As to the precise quantity of ashes or of commercial potash to be 
